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Saturday, 27 July 2013

Improvements In School Attitude

There are certain things a parent expects to hear when talking to their child's teacher. After the child has become accustomed to school life, they usually form a routine and become predictable in their personality, their position amongst their peers, their learning likes and dislikes, and things they are doing well with and not so well.

It hasn't been that long since we have spoken to both of our children's teachers. Yet, so much can happen in a little time in the school. Given that Master 5 was in his first year at the main primary campus, and had had some issues with focus, we are always interested to see how he is progressing.

We had felt Master 5 had some catching up to do after his Kindergarten year, where we had had several concerns with what the class was learning and the lack of readiness for their next school year. It has always been important for us, as parents, to be aware of our children's strengths and weaknesses, and know their yearly targets so we can help them at home where we can.

We made an impromptu decision to collect the kids after school on my day off this week. We waited outside Master 5's class for the bell. Since the kids usually catch the bus, we don't see the teachers on a regular basis. This was a perfect time to pop our head in and get an update.

The teacher was glad to see us. She loves seeing parents taking an interest in their child's learning, and is always happy to update, advise, give her praises and voice her concerns.

"I'm glad you've popped in. I wanted to talk to your about the reports for first term." These are being handed out any day now, but I wasn't sure whether this was going to be good news or bad.

We were pleasantly surprised when she went on to explain that the reports are aimed at a point in the term that is now some weeks back. Given the chance to write another report, she wanted us to know that it would now read quite differently. Apparently, Master 5 had made some great progress since the reporting stage, and his teacher was extremely pleased with his efforts in class and his focus and attitude.

Whew!
Praise and improvement is always great to hear as a parent, but especially a parent of a child behind the eightball .